It was a study in contrasts. In the summer of 2005, breakout rap star Kanye West appeared on the celebrity-heavy "Concert for Hurricane Relief" hosted by Matt Lauer. Standing beside comedian Mike Myers, West provocatively accused, "George Bush doesn't care about black people."
While conservatives and Republicans were disgusted by the remark, and Mike Myers seemed dumbfounded as to how to react, the comment was largely passed off by the media and entertainment industry as a passionate black man speaking his truth.
Fast-forward to October of 2018 and that same Kanye West appeared on Saturday Night Live sporting his Donald Trump "Make America Great Again" cap. After the broadcast was over, West stood on stage in front of the studio audience and accused the cast and crew of "bullying" him over his support of Trump. The reaction was somewhat different than it was 13 years before. SNL star Pete Davidson told Kanye to take his meds. Actress Alyssa Milano sent out a viral tweet demanding to "Make Kanye Kanye Again" – apparently suggesting that as a black man, Kanye has to duty to think like her, a white liberal. And CNN anchor Don Lemon lashed out, hosting a segment that included these offensive, racist insults:
"Kanye is what happens when negroes don't read."
"[Kanye is] is the token negro of the Trump administration."
"Black folks are about to trade Kanye West in the racial draft."
For anyone who pays attention to racial politics in America, there was sadly nothing surprising about the monumental contrast in the treatment of a black man who spews the Democrat Party narrative vs. one that voices support for a Republican.
The degree of overt, unmasked, vile racism directed routinely at black conservatives is both astounding and sickening. In a very real way, the Democrat Party's assumption of ownership over black bodies has given way to its assumption of ownership over black minds. What other explanation can be given for things like this…
Or this…
And now this…
The hostility even pours into so-called "justice" oriented evangelical circles. VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer offered his own take on Elder, cautioning his followers that Elder has learned from another conservative black man, Thomas Sowell:
Notice the framing Phil intentionally constructs: Elder, who "launches" white nationalists in his spare time, is popular with "anti-social justice white people" but not "anti-racist black people."
Good grief. Vischer deliberately creates the false perception that "black people" do not oppose the modern social justice movement but instead are on the side of "anti-racism." But what of those black people who see the current social justice crusade as the latest iteration of failed Marxism, and who view Ibram X. Kendi as a huckster peddling a neo-racism that is damaging society?
Apparently, they don't count to Phil, perhaps because they too were discipled by an intellectually rebellious black man like Thomas Sowell.
The whole thing is gross and repulsive, particularly from a political movement that purports itself to be champions of diversity. If your interest in promoting the voices, value, and advancement of black people ends when they express ideas different from your own, you aren't a proponent of real diversity, you're its enemy.
And worse, you have signaled to the world that in your eyes the worth of black bodies extends only to the usefulness they have to your political agenda. That seems, dare I say… racist.
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P.S. While you're here, take a quality brain break with our latest video about the worst parenting fail of the year:
